Pete Carroll

I believe we have visitors to this space that have had vastly different experiences with Pete Carroll as a local coach. 65-12 over the last six years at USC, two national championships, and a 34 game win streak. 27-21 in New England, 1-2 in the playoffs, which isn't bad, but he's no Bill Belichick (his successor). Of course Belichick may have his own successor very soon depending on how the resurrected Spygate plays out.

I just finished this article about Carroll. Very long but pretty good. Not that I disliked him, but it changed the way I viewed him, for the better. For those of you that won't read the entire article, I'll highlight a couple of sections.

Read numbers 1 and 2.

Here is number 16.

16. I CAN’T CONCEIVE ANY EXPLANATION FOR WHY THIS BEAUTIFUL CARROLL ORCHESTRATED MOMENT WASN’T NATIONAL NEWS, WHICH MAKES ME QUESTION ALL MY JUDGMENTS ABOUT CARROLL

The first quarter of the first game of 2007. Carroll’s team is preoccupied, heavyhearted, mourning their beloved placekicker, Mario Danelo, who died in January after falling from a cliff in San Pedro. (Danelo was drunk, but police still don’t know why he fell.) The players have honored Danelo with an emotional pregame ceremony and with a moment of silence before kickoff , but it’s not enough. After USC scores its first touchdown, Carroll sends just ten men onto the field to kick the point after. One man is missing—Danelo.

Slowly the crowd realizes what’s happening. They see the holder kneeling in an empty backfield—a sort of missing man formation. Murmurs ripple through the crowd, then a cheer goes up. It grows louder. The play clock runs down, the refs whistle the play dead. USC is penalized for delay of game. The ball is moved back five yards. At last Danelo’s replacement trots onto the field and boots the ball through the uprights. The symbolic gesture, which perhaps has given some extra comfort to Danelo’s family, sends chills around the Coliseum and further cements the bond between coach and players.